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Fifteen more bodies of Palestinians were returned by Israel on Wednesday as the grim corpse-handover continued to hold a shaky Gaza ceasefire. It followed the release by Hamas of the dead body of Israeli soldier Staff Sgt Itay Chen who was killed while defending Nahal Oz on October 7 and his body was taken into Gaza. His death was announced five months later. The process has continued despite repeated allegations of ceasefire violations since the October 10 ceasefire w as agreed upon and strikes on the Strip. The International Committee of the Red Cross has transported 285 bodies held in Israeli custody to Gaza since the agreement was brokered. Health officials in Gaza have said identifying the remains is complicated by a lack of DNA testing kits. Israel has not disclosed how many bodies it is holding or where they were recovered, but has been returning 15 each time the remains of an Israeli hostage are returned from Gaza. The 15 were returned to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Wednesday a day after Palestinian militants in Gaza handed over Staff Sgt Chen. The exchanges are the central component of the initial phase of the U.S.-brokered agreement which requires Hamas return all hostage remains as quickly as possible. The exchanges have gone ahead even as Israel and Hamas have accused each other of breaching other terms of the deal. Hamas returned 20 living hostages to Israel on Oct. 13. The group has since also returned the remains of 21 bodies. Israeli officials have accused Hamas of handing over partial remains in some instances and staging the discovery of bodies in others. It has pushed to speed up the returns and in certain cases has said the remains were not those of hostages. Hamas has said recovering bodies is complicated by the widespread devastation in the coastal enclave and has returned one to three bodies every few days. It has accused Israel of opening fire at civilians and restricting the flow of humanitarian aid i nto the territory. The number of casualties has dropped since the ceasefire took effect. But health officials in Gaza - who do not distinguish between civilians and militants - have continued to report deaths from strikes, while Israel has said that soldiers have also been killed. The deal will not move to subsequent phases until all the remains of Israeli hostages are returned. The next parts of the 20-point plan call for creating an international stabilization force. Its makeup hasn't been finalised, but diplomats are working to define its role, persuade Arab countries to take part, and win wider international support. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters in Doha: "What we believe is that whatever entity that is created in Gaza should have the legitimacy of a mandate from the Security Council." The war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel and has killed about 1,200 people and seen 251 taken hostage. Israel responded with a sweeping military offensive that has killed more than 68,800 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by independent experts. Israel, which has denied accusations by a U.N. commission of inquiry and others of committing genocide in Gaza, has disputed the ministry's figures without providing a contradicting toll.
